Language Problems & Language Planning 23:2 (1999)
� John Benjamins Publishing Company
ARTICLES
Kendall A. King (109)
Inspecting the Unexpected: Language Status and Corpus Shifts as Aspects of
Quichua Language Revitalization
Thomas Clayton (133)
Decentering Language in World-System Inquiry
Minglang Zhou (157)
The Official National Language and Language Attitudes of Three Ethnic
Minority Groups in China
INTERLINGUISTICS
Sabine Fiedler (175)
Phraseology in Planned Languages: An Empirical Study
REVIEWS (189)
Michael O'Keefe,
Nouvelles perspectives Canadiennes (Timothy Reagan)
Robertta E. Thoryk and Patricia N. Roberts,
Hegemony Dismantled or Hegemony Disguised? (Frank Nuessel)
Bambi B. Schieffelin, Kathyrn A. Woolard, and Paul V. Kroskrity (eds.),
Language Ideologies: Practice and Theory (Robert N. St. Clair)
P. Trudgill and J. Cheshire (eds.),
The Sociolinguistics Reader. Volume 1: Multilingualism and Variation.
Volume 2: Gender and Discourse (Terry A. Osborn)
S. J. Bartomeu Melia (ed.),
Paraguay Biling�e. Pol�ticas ling��sticas y educaci�n biling�e
(Abdeljalil Akkari)
Jesse Levitt, Leonard R. N. Ashley, and Wayne H. Finke (eds.),
Language and Communication in the New Century (Max Oppenheimer, Jr.)
Ofelia Garc�a and Joshua A. Fishman (eds.),
The Multilingual Apple: Languages in New York City (Timothy Reagan)
Rajendara Singh, Probal Dasgupta and K. P. Mohanan (eds.),
The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 1998
(Robert N. St. Clair)
Ana Fernandez Garay,
El tehuelche: una lengua en v�as de extinci�n (Frank Nuessel)
R. Lippi-Green,
English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the
United States (Terry A. Osborn)
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ABSTRACTS
Inspecting the Unexpected: Language Status and Corpus Shifts as Aspects of
Quichua Language Revitalization
Kendall A. King
Drawing from the study of efforts to revitalize Quichua in the southern
Ecuadorian highlands, this paper describes what may be some of the common
language corpus and language status transformations which threatened
languages undergo during the process of language revitalization.
Specifically, the paper inspects the frequently unexpected corpus and
status changes which have accompanied Quichua revitalization initiatives
among the Saraguros, an indigenous Andean group. These processes are then
compared with those of language death, and lastly, the implications of
these findings for language planners and revitalization advocates are
discussed.
Decentering Language in World-System Inquiry
Thomas Clayton
This article examines the development of and response to world-system
theory in language-policy studies. Rejecting national-functional
explanations for the international use of English, French, Russian and
other languages associated with developed nations, certain language-policy
scholars propose the concept of "linguistic imperialism." Basing their
arguments in world-system theory, these scholars suggest that hegemonic
"core" groups promote their languages in "periphery" settings through
educational-assistance programs; the subsequent use of core languages in
the periphery facilitates the international movement of real and symbolic
capital and the establishment and maintenance of relations beneficial to
core groups. World-system theory's emergence in language-policy studies has
been criticized by scholars from diverse epistemological positions. Some
critics raise predictable concerns about the complex and contradictory
nature of world-system inquiry. Other critics point to world-system
theory's determinism: in attempting to force linguistic imperialism into a
universal theory of language and international structural relations,
world-system scholars ignore many instances where hegemonic core groups
invoked indigenous or third languages in attempts to manipulate relations
with periphery groups. Labeling this latter dynamic "linguistic
pragmatism", this article calls for a reappraisal of linguistic imperialism
and for attention in language-policy inquiry to the factors informing
linguistic preference in hegemonic educational-assistance programming.
World-system theory has recently gained currency in language-policy studies
as a means of explaining the use of international languages in education in
developing countries. Rejecting explanations based on national-level and
functional assumptions, certain scholars argue that the contemporary status
of languages such as English and French in education in "periphery" nations
results from purposeful promotion by "core" enterprises and, further, that
the use of these languages facilitates the movement of real and symbolic
capital in the world-system to the advantage of core groups. Central to
language-policy inquiry in the world-system tradition is "linguistic
imperialism," a concept with a long history but currently most associated
with Robert Phillipson (1992).
The Official National Language and Language Attitudes of Three Ethnic
Minority Groups in China
Minglang Zhou
As the result of language planning, half of the one hundred million Chinese
ethnic minority nationality (EMN) population speak some variety of
Putonghua (PTH) as a first or second language. This study utilizing an
attitude/motivation battery and matched-guise procedure examined Kazak,
Uygur and Yi subjects's ratings of PTH and EMN languages and twelve
variables in PTH learning/using. Analyses of the results by one-way ANOVA
and a paired-sample t test show that a) integrative orientation and
impression of Beijing people are the best predictors of EMN's instrumental
orientation, intensity and desire for learning and using PTH; b) length of
PTH learning alone determines how easy EMN's feel in PTH use; c) levels of
EMN's contact with the Han majority correlate with their ratings of PTH and
EMN languages; and d) good impression of Beijing people correlates with
higher ratings of PTH. The findings provide insights into the relationship
between language attitudes and ethnic relations for language-policy makers
and researchers worldwide.
Phraseology in Planned Languages
Sabine Fiedler
A comprehensive phraseological study of Esperanto, based on detailed text
analyses, participant observation and surveys, reveals both similiarities
and differences in comparison to ethnic or national languages. While some
phraseological units (PUs) have arisen from the cultural life of the
community, others have been deliberately introduced; the most frequent
source proves to be conventionalized or spontaneous loan translations.
Linguistic and cultural background clearly affects comprehension, but
status as a native speaker does not. Relatively high levels of
metalinguistic consciousness and creativity were observed, coupled with
widely differing attitudes towards the adoption and usage of new PUs.
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